I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! I am happy to announce that summer has officially arrived in Washington- we had an entire weekend with highs about 75 degrees, complete sun and no rain! I know, that's crazy for Washington! My fingers are crossed this weather sticks around for a bit as Ron, the dogs and I could use a chance to get used to sun and some warmth before our big move!
I'm sure you've seen/read/heard the names our our kiddos already, but I wanted to spend this week talking about the names we chose and why we chose them.
When we were first thinking about names, Ron and I initially thought that we would keep our children's given names. We thought that these names would represent their past, their birth families and their birth country/culture. However, after researching some of the names from Ethiopia and Thailand, we started to change our minds. Many of the native names in both countries are long, difficult to pronounce and even more difficult to spell. The last thing we wanted was for our kids to be made fun of in school or to be embarrassed by their names. Ron and I want to do everything we can to have our children's pasts and birth cultures be a source of pride, not shame or resentment. So we then got to thinking...
Our son will be Aidan, and his middle name will be his given name.
We started looking at traditional male Ethiopian names. After searching through 100 or so, we found 10 that were easy to pronounce and spell, and weren't too unique. Some of the names included Taye, Ahron, and Cain. And then we found Aitan. Aitan is a Hebrew name that is common in Ethiopia. It means "firmness" and "long loved" in Hebrew. My family is Irish and there is a Gaelic equivalent: Aidan. Aidan in Gaelic means "little fire." We thought the meaning of this name was perfect and we love how it combines our two cultures together into one name!
We are going to keep Aidans' given name as his middle name. This way, he will never loose is complete birth identity and will always be connected with where he was born.
So if you hear Ron and I talk about Aidan, you know who we're talking about. We have no idea where he is, or if he's even born yet. All we know is that we can't wait to meet him and love him even more than we already do! Oh yea- he has nicknames already, too! So far, he's Mr. Aidan, Little Man and our Little Lion. Lord knows what we'll come up with once he's ours!
For our little girl, her name will be Lanna Rain (yep, 2 names - the South did this to me)! Her middle name will be Margaret. She will mostly go by Lanna.
In researching Thailand, we read about Lanna Kingdom. This was a dynasty/kingdom in northern Thailand that reigned for about 200 years. It was very prosperous and progressive and placed a strong emphasis on the arts. The capital of the Lanna Kingdom was Chiang Mai, where we will be living. After hearing this, we thought Lanna would be the perfect name for our little girl. We thought the name represents her native country, as well as a kingdom that accomplished great things.
We decided to add Rain because it sounds poetic with Lanna. I've always loved the name Rain, but after being in Washington, it has a different meaning. And no, it's not because of my adoration of the massive amounts of endless precipitation this state receives :) . Ron and I absolutely LOVE Mt. Rainer, which is only an hour from where we live. On a clear and beautiful day, Mt. Rainer takes our breath away. I know it's going to be a great, happy day when's she's out! Mt. Rainer has bee a source of happiness for me in Washington, and I know our daughter will be so as well. So we decided on Rain.
Margaret is the name we're asked most about. My Aunt Lori's middle name was Margaret. Aunt Lori was my mom's younger sister and my God-mother. She was the perfect aunt and loved all of her nieces and nephews like they were her own. Although my Aunt Lori never had her own kids, she loved her step children like they were hers. Aunt Lori attended many sporting events, school plays and birthday parties while I was growing up. She was there for my high school and college graduation. She was such a large part of my life and a true friend. Unfortunately, my Aunt Lori was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last March. In May, just 3 months after her diagnosis, she passed away after an unsuccessful round of chemotherapy. She died 1 week before my vet school graduation and 3 weeks before my wedding. Although she wasn't there in person, she was definitely there in spirit.
Although my Aunt Lori was proud of many things that I did in life, I know this adoption would have made her the proudest. I could just imagine her face when she found out we were adopting and hear her voice and what she would say. Through the ups and downs of this journey, Ron and I know that my Aunt Lori is leading the way for the adoption and making sure everything works out. Although she left a large legacy behind, Ron and I thought that adding her name to Lanna's would increase the impact she already left.
Ron has been calling Lanna his Thai Princess. Something tells me our daughter will be rather spoiled by her Dad!!!!!
So fingers crossed, in the next 6-12 months, we'll be proud parents of Aidan. Then, when Aidan's crawling/walking/running around, we'll be able to welcome Lanna Rain into our family!
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